Salt making method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A salt making method comprising putting a crude salt-water mixture (5) comprising crude salt or rock salt and bittern in a vessel (1), blowing the air from a pipe (7) into the mixture (5) with a pump (9), crystallizing the component salt out of the mixture (5), and precipitating the salt as a common salt (S) at the bottom of the vessel (1). The remainder of the mixture (5) is discharged through a filter (13) into a tank (17), where it is stored as a concentrated brine (15), which is then discharged through a filter layer (16) and a drain (18), and crude salt is dissolved therein to recycle as a crude salt-water mixture. The concentrated brine (15) may be used after being mixed with the extracts of aloe, mozuku (Nemacystis decipiens), rice bran, etc. The air may be blown into the mixture (5) under heating.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a salt making method and apparatus,particularly a method and apparatus for making a natural salt.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known that common salt is made by depositing sodium chloride fromsea water but, recently, natural salt, i.e., salt containing not onlysodium chloride but also other sea water components such as minerals,has been attracted attention.

It is said that sea water contains almost the same components as thoseof human blood and, from this viewpoint, natural salt is consideredpreferred for human consumption.

As a result, the number of people who use natural salt for food isincreasing and "salt application health method" in which a natural saltis applied to a human body and "salt bathing" in which a natural salt isadded to bath water have been proposed, not only for health and cosmeticpurposes but also as therapeutics of atopic dermatitis and so on.

As a method for making a natural salt, a method is known in which acrude salt, which is a kind of natural salt obtained by evaporatingwater from sea water by the heat of the sun, is dissolved in water andthen heated at a temperature of 140 to 180° C. for 6 to 12 hours.

The above method has the problems that the heating requires a largeamount of energy and a large apparatus and the salt becomes unnatural bydeviation of the components or removal of bittern, particularlymagnesium and calcium.

The present invention, considering the above problems, has the object toprovide a salt making method and apparatus which are simple inconstruction and can make a natural salt.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, to solve the above problems, astarting salt-water mixture liquid is put in a vessel, into which a gasis blown to deposit the component salt of the starting salt. Thecomponent salt is salt which comprises common salt as the majorcomponent but may contain components other than the salt.

The starting salt which can be used is not particularly limited andnatural salt, crude salt, rock salt and others may be preferably used.The "blown gas" is a gas such as air but the gas is not limited to air.

The starting salt-water mixture liquid of the present invention isusually prepared by mixing a starting salt in an amount more than thesaturation and water in a mixer or the like to dissolve and finelydisperse the starting salt in the water. However, a brine concentratedfrom a sea water may be also used. A brine having a concentration lessthan the saturation concentration can be theoretically used as thestarting material.

The starting salts as mentioned above usually contain dust, etc. whichshould be removed. In the salt making method of the present invention,impurities such as dust are separated during the process of dissolutionand dispersion of the starting salt and are separately deposited.

The efficiency of the above operations, particularly the dust removingoperation, is higher when the amount of the starting salt-water mixtureliquid is somewhat large. When the amount of the starting salt-watermixture liquid is large, however, the time required for salt makingbecomes longer. It is possible to shorten the time for salt making whileeffectively removing dust, by removing a portion of the startingsalt-water mixture liquid from a bottom portion of the vessel whileblowing a gas into the starting salt-water mixture liquid.

The starting salt-water mixture liquid may be prepared from a startingsalt and water but, if bittern, etc. are added to a starting salt, theamount of dissolution of the starting salt in water is reduced and thecomponent salt preferentially deposits before the bittern and,therefore, a starting salt-water mixture liquid containing a mixture ofa starting salt and bittern, etc. may be used. When a mixture of astarting salt and bittern, etc. is used, a solution containing thebittern as a major component is removed by said removal so that theefficiency of the salt making is not reduced and the removed solutioncan be mixed with a starting salt for use as the starting salt-watermixture liquid in the next salt making process.

The present invention is characterized by making a salt basically atroom temperature, without heating as in conventional salt making, so asto avoid selective deposition of the components of the starting salt andto produce a salt having a composition close to that of the startingsalt, i.e., having a composition of a natural salt, and characterized bybeing able to add various useful additives as described later to theabove salt. However, the salt making time may be shortened by heating ata temperature range which prevents or reduce selective deposition of thecomponents of the starting salt and/or additive components. Thattemperature is a temperature about 5 to 15° C., more preferably about 5to 10° C., above room temperature.

In accordance with the present invention, extracts of aloe, nemacystis,rice bran, turmeric, coral, carrot or ginseng, ink of cuttlefish,squalane, balsam pear, shell of crab, and the like, may be added to thestarting salt-water mixture liquid so that these additives can be easilyincluded in the final salt. Salts containing these additives are usefulbecause of the additives, and are also useful as Chinese medicine salt,health salt, a cosmetic salt, etc. because of the synergistic effect ofthe additives and the above natural composition close to the compositionof the natural salt.

Thus, when air is blown into a mixture (liquid) of a starting salt andwater or bittern, the water is gradually evaporated to deposit thecomponent salt from the mixture. While the starting salt in the mixtureis gradually dissolved and becomes finer, dust or similar impurities areseparated and light impurities float to the top of the mixture (liquid)and are separated from the salt components. It is considered that theair blowing also accelerates dissolution of the starting salt bystirring. The starting salt (component salt) releases impurities anddeposits separately from the impurities. Since the salt depositsbasically at room temperature, the component salt of the starting salt,whose dust and other impurities are removed, can deposit basicallywithout change of the composition and the added extracts can beuniformly distributed in the deposit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a salt making apparatus of the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a salt making apparatus of the secondembodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating an embodiment of the presentinvention and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. A vessel 1 is placed on asupport 3 and the vessel 1 contains a starting salt-containing mixtureliquid 5. In a bottom portion of the vessel 1, there is arranged a pipe7 which is connected to an air feed pump 9. The pipe 7 has a pluralityof pores 7a through which air is blown into the mixture liquid.

An exit port 11 is provided on the bottom of the vessel 1 and a filter13, for example, a cloth, is provided to the exit port 11. A tank 17 isplaced under the exit port 11.

The salt making method of this embodiment of the present invention isnow described.

Crude salt and bittern are mixed at a ratio of about 1 to 1 in a mixerto form a mixture (liquid) 5 of the crude salt and water, which is thenput in a vessel 1. An air feed pump 9 is operated to feed the air into apipe 7 and blow the air as bubbles into the liquid through pores 7a.

After the air blowing, dust G in the crude salt forced upward by thebubbles floats on the surface of the liquid 5, which is then removed.

Ten to 15 minutes after the start of the air blowing, sodium chlorideand other components in the upper portion of the liquid 5 deposit andprecipitate as a salt S in the bottom portion of the vessel 1. Theremainder gradually flows through a filter 13 into a tank 17 and isstored as a concentrated brine 15. The concentrated brine 15 mainlycomprises bittern, but heavy impurities, if contained in the crude salt,may be removed by means of a filter provided inside or outside of thetank 17.

In the embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, a filter layer 16 is provided in abottom portion of the tank 17 and an exit pipe 18 having pores is buriedin the filter layer 16. The concentrated brine 15 passes through thefilter layer 16 and is removed through the exit pipe 18. Thus thefiltering is conducted. The filter layer 16 may be composed of variousmaterials, but is composed of coral sand in the embodiment of FIG. 1.While passing through the coral sand, not only heavy impurities areremoved, but also organic materials in the concentrated brine 15 areremoved by means of microorganisms (filtering bacteria) since the coralsand contains microorganisms which decompose and remove organicmaterials such as dead bodies of planktons.

The deposited salt S is then removed from the vessel 1 and dried, forexample, air dried. The first salt making is thus finished.

The second and later salt makings are conducted by dissolving a crudesalt in the concentrated brine 15 which has been removed from the exitpipe 18. That is, a crude salt is dissolved in the concentrated brine 15at a ratio of about 1 to 1 by a mixer or the like to form a crudesalt-containing mixture liquid 5 and the same operations as in the firstsalt making are conducted. The same process is repeated afterwards. Ifthe concentrated brine 15 decreases, water is appropriately added.

The concentrated brine 15 may have added thereto an extract(s) of aloe,nemacystis or rice bran, or other medical herbs or seaweeds, and thecrude salt may be dissolved in this concentrated brine 15 containingthese extracts, for use in salt making. To carry this out, for example,finely cut aloe is immersed in a concentrated brine (which is separatedfrom the concentrated brine 15) in an amount of amount 1 kg per 10 kg ofthe concentrated brine for a certain time period, for example, onemonth, to obtain an aloe extract solution, which is filtered and thenadded to the concentrated brine 15 in an appropriate amount. Nemacystisand rice bran may be treated and used similarly. The aloe, nemacystisand rice bran may be used alone or in combination.

The thus made salt is a high quality natural salt which contains notonly sodium chloride but also other useful components in the sea water,such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and so on.

Natural salt containing aloe or rice bran extract has excellent cosmeticeffects, when it is used in "salt application" to a human body. ofcourse, these extract-containing natural salts are also good as food andprovide the specific effects of each extract to a human body. Forexample, it is said that aloe has a good effect on the esophagus,stomach, etc. and rice starch contains vitamin B₁, etc. and has a hairgrowth effect. Nemacystis is rich in minerals such as calcium. Theamount of aloe, nemacystis or rice bran to be added may be determinedappropriately depending on the use thereof.

In the above embodiment, the component salt can be deposited in a shorttime, since the concentrated brine 15 removed from the exit port 11 isused to dissolve and make a crude salt finer.

Also in the above embodiment, components which have good cosmetic orhealth effects on a human body, for example, aloe and other herbs andrice bran, can be added to a natural salt without separation thereoffrom the salt. If these components or additives are added in a crudesalt-containing mixture liquid and simply heated in accordance with theconventional method, the high temperature heating causes separation ofthese components and does not provide a salt containing thesecomponents.

Embodiment 2

The second embodiment of the present invention is now illustrated inFIG. 3. In this embodiment 2, a vessel containing a crude saltcontaining-mixture liquid comprises two tanks, an inner tank 101 and anouter tank 103. In the inner tank 101, a pipe 7 is arranged and fed withair from an air pump 9, in the same manner as in the apparatus ofembodiment 1. The inner talk 101 and outer tank 103 do not have an exitport as in the apparatus of embodiment 1. A cover 19 is provided on thetop of the inner tank 101 so as to prevent flooding of the concentratedbrine 51. The cover 19 is provided with a plurality of air ports 19a.

Water (or sea water) W is contained between the inner tank 101 and theouter tank 103, in which an electric heating wire 105 is arranged. Theouter tank 103 is placed on a support 20.

The concentrated brine 51 to be used may be the concentrated brine 15used in embodiment 1. The concentrated brine 51 may contain an extractof aloe, nemacystis, rice bran, or the like, as in Embodiment 1.Further, turmeric, powder of coral, carrot or ginseng, ink ofcuttlefish, squalane, balsam pear, shell of crab, and the like may alsobe used as other additives. These extracts may be used alone or in acombination.

The method for making salt in embodiment 2 is now described.

A concentrated brine 51 is put in the inner tank 101 and air is fed to apipe 7 from an air feeding pump 9, by which air bubbles are releasedfrom the pipe 7 into the concentrated brine 51.

The water W is heated by passing an electric current through theelectric heating wire 105. The temperature of the concentrated brine 51is set to be 5 to 10° C. higher than the temperature of the air fed fromthe pump 9 (the temperature of the surrounding air).

As the air is fed through the pipe 7, air rises as bubbles in theconcentrated brine 51 up to the surface of the solution, and leavesthrough the air ports 19a. During this process, a large quantity ofbubbles B are formed on the surface of the brine 51. The height of theair ports 19a is set such that the bubbles B do not overflow. Beforelong, sodium chloride and other components start to deposit near thesurface of the brine 51, and precipitate as a salt S to a bottom portionof the tank 101. In about 6 hours, the water evaporates and a naturalsalt S is left in the inner tank 101. The deposited salt S is removedfrom the vessel 1 and dried, for example, air dried, to obtain a naturalsalt.

Since the natural salt made in this embodiment is obtained byevaporating all the water in the concentrated brine 51 and depositingthe components in the concentrated brine 51, the natural salt containsbittern in an amount higher than that of the salt produced in embodiment1 and is thus a more natural salt. The natural salt produced in thisembodiment is finer than the natural salt made in embodiment 1.Moreover, natural salt containing an extract such as aloe has an effectdepending on the type of the added extract. The effects of the aloe,nemacystis and rice bran are described in embodiment 1. Turmeric is saidto have an effect on liver troubles and the powder of rock coral is acalcium component. The ink of cuttlefish has attracted attention due toits carcinostatic effect.

In embodiment 2, the salt can deposit in a short time period since airis blown while the solution 51 is being heated. In an example ofembodiment 2, when the atmospheric temperature is 30° C., it takes about6 hours to evaporate all the water of the brine 51 when the brine 51 isheated to 35 to 40° C., but it takes about 12 hours if not heated. Ifthe temperature of the brine 51 is too high, an extract such as a plantextract is separated from the salt. Therefore, the temperature of thesolution 51 is set to be a temperature at which the separation does notoccur, for example, about 5 to 10° C. higher than that of theatmosphere.

In the above two embodiments, a mixed solution 5 of crude salt andbittern, or concentrated brine 15 or 51 obtained from the mixed solution5 is used, but concentrated sea water obtained by concentrating the seawater may be also used.

As described above, the present invention has the effect in that anatural salt is made by a simple method or apparatus.

I claim:
 1. A method for making a salt, wherein a starting salt-waterliquid mixture is contained in a vessel and a gas is blown into thestarting salt-water liquid mixture without heating the salt-water liquidmixture, thereby precipitating the salt component of said startingsalt-water liquid mixture, wherein to said starting salt-water liquidmixture there is added an additive selected from the group consisting ofextract of aloe, nemacystis, rice bran, turmeric, coral, carrot,ginseng, ink of cuttlefish, squalane, balsam pear and shell of crab, soas to add said additive to said precipitated salt.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said starting salt-water liquid mixture isprepared by mixing a crude salt or rock salt with bittern.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein a bottom portion of said vessel isprovided with an exit port through which a portion of said startingsalt-water liquid mixture is removed while said gas is blown into saidstarting salt water liquid mixture.
 4. The method according to claim 3,wherein a liquid portion of the starting salt-water liquid mixture isremoved through said exit port and mixed with a crude salt and then usedas said starting salt-water mixture liquid.
 5. The method according toclaim 4, wherein the liquid removed through said exit port is mixed withthe crude salt after the liquid is passed through a filter.
 6. A methodfor making salt wherein a starting salt-water liquid mixture iscontained in a vessel and a gas is blown into the starting salt-waterliquid mixture while a liquid portion of said starting salt-water liquidmixture is removed, wherein to said starting salt-water liquid mixturethere is added an additive selected from the group consisting of extractof aloe, nemacystis, rice bran, turmeric, coral, carrot, ginseng, ink ofcuttlefish, squalane, balsam pear and shell of crab, therebyprecipitating the salt component of said starting salt-water liquidmixture and wherein the removed liquid is passed through a filterincluding coral sand and is mixed with a crude salt and then is used assaid starting salt-water liquid mixture.
 7. A method for making a saltwherein a starting salt-water liquid mixture is contained in a vesseland a gas is blown into the starting salt-water liquid mixture while aliquid portion of said starting salt-water liquid mixture is removed,thereby precipitating the salt component of said starting salt-waterliquid mixture, wherein the removed liquid is passed through a filterincluding microorganisms and is mixed with a crude salt and is used assaid starting salt-water liquid mixture.
 8. A method for making a saltwherein a starting salt-water liquid mixture is contained in a vesseland a gas is blown into the starting salt-water liquid mixture toprecipitate the salt component of said starting salt-water liquidmixture, wherein to said starting salt-water liquid mixture there isadded an additive selected from the group consisting of extract of aloe,nemacystis, rice bran, turmeric, coral, carrot, ginseng, ink ofcuttlefish, squalane, balsam pear and shell of crab, so as to add saidadditive to said precipitated salt.
 9. The method according to claim 8,wherein said gas blowing is conducted while heating said startingsalt-water liquid mixture.
 10. An apparatus for making a salt comprisinga vessel for containing a starting salt-water liquid mixture whichincludes a component salt and an additive selected from the groupconsisting of extract of aloe, nemacystis, rice bran, turmeric, coral,carrot, ginseng, ink of cuttlefish, squalane, balsam pear and shell ofcrab, wherein said mixture is prepared by mixing a crude salt or rocksalt with bittern, a gas-blowing means for blowing a gas into saidstarting salt-water liquid mixture, an exit port provided in the bottomportion of said vessel, and a filter including microorganism provided inalignment with the exit port, wherein a gas is blown into said startingsalt-water liquid mixture while a liquid portion of said startingsalt-water liquid mixture is gradually removed through said exit port,and wherein the removed liquid is passed through said filter, therebyprecipitating the component salt of said starting salt-water liquidmixture.